Many to venerate beloved Pacific dean in memorial concert

It wasn't long after George Buckbee's June 22nd death that Reg Huston was in touch with University of the Pacific's Conservatory of Music offering to perform in a tribute concert for his former mentor.

What: Former colleagues, students and friends pay tribute to George Buckbee, a former University of the Pacific teacher and dean of the Conservatory of Music, followed by a receptionW...

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George Buckbee Memorial Concert

What: Former colleagues, students and friends pay tribute to George Buckbee, a former University of the Pacific teacher and dean of the Conservatory of Music, followed by a reception

When: 2:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Pacific's Faye Spanos Concert Hall

Admission: Free

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It wasn't long after George Buckbee's June 22nd death that Reg Huston was in touch with University of the Pacific's Conservatory of Music offering to perform in a tribute concert for his former mentor.

The 60-year-old wasn't alone.

"We had quite a bit of response. We couldn't accommodate everybody," said Giulio Ongaro, dean of the conservatory. "The Concert is long as it is. There has to be a limit.

The free concert to honor Buckbee, who died at 81 in Finland, where he moved to live near his sons, is at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Pacific's Faye Spanos Concert Hall. More than 30 former colleagues, students and friends will perform or offer tributes to a man who in arrived at Pacific 1973 to teach opera and voice, then twice served as dean of the conservatory, most recently in 1999-2000.

Ongaro was not a colleague, but he had met Buckbee and learned more about his predecessor as he organized Sunday's concert.

"I went in and read the folder in the archive with material about him, including some student evaluations," Ongaro said. "They were all just glowing."

That doesn't come as a surprise to Huston, who was in his third year at Pacific as a vocal performance major when Buckbee arrived.

"George was very sincere about his love of music and he was very sincere about wanting to pass on his knowledge of it," said Huston, who continues to perform regularly in the Salinas area where he works as a fundraiser for non-profit organizations. "He was not afraid to give something a bad review. No matter what he said or did, it came from his knowledge of the subject. It wasn't off the top of his head. There were reasons for what he had to say. That passion and compassion for music came across to all of us. It certainly did to me. Because he wanted the best for you, you wanted to give him your best."

That passion for his students and their success never ceased.

"He stayed in touch all these years," Huston said. "George was amazing that way. He was so involved with all his students. I received email from him weekly my entire life, for 40 years. He always remembered birthdays and anniversaries and sent a card."

Presented with an opportunity to give something back to his beloved teacher, Huston chose to sing Franz Schubert's "Ganymed," accompanied by Annette Hutton.

"Ganymed was a demigod, taken by Zeus to be his companion," Huston explained. "The song talks about how beautiful the setting is on Earth, and how Zeus wants to bring Ganymed up to him in heaven. It seemed appropriate, where George was going: (to) a celestial music consortium. It seemed to me he was going in that direction."

Professor/pianist Rex Cooper will perform "The Maiden and the Nightingale" by Enrique Granados, a Buckbee favorite. Other local performers include Ric Campero, Paul Kimball, June Spencer, Warren van Bronkhorst and Patricia Shands. Others will arrive from distant places, including Susanne Mentzer, who has performed in operas around the world and spent 20 years with New York's Met. Still others will be there in spirit only.

"I got, this morning, six messages from students everywhere who know there's a concert but can't come and are writing beautiful notes," Ongaro said. "One came from Germany. He said he wishes he could be there. He's conducting his gospel choir this Sunday and will be thinking of George. He said, 'I feel I'm doing something I learned from him, passing on what I learned from him.'

"Any teacher would (love) to hear that, to feel so important in the lives of their students. It feels like you've done something. What better message is there?"